what does "wholistic"
really mean?

general approach

feeding
& nutritional therapy

exercise physiology
& sports medicine

internal medicine

physical therapy
& rehabilitation

"prehab"

manual & movement
therapies

osteopathic care
of the spine

homeopathy
& homotoxicology

medical intuitive evaluation

energy medicine

Anima Herbal Solutions

FEEDING & NUTRITIONAL THERAPY

"Let thy food be thy medicine,
and thy medicine be thy food."
Hippocrates

Nutritional Therapy
Certain foods and individual nutrients can also be used for specific therapeutic purposes. When used in this way, these substances could be called medicinal foods. They include whole foods (e.g. flax seeds, various herbs, medicinal mushrooms), whether or not they're chopped up, ground up, or added to liquid before feeding; and various isolated or purified nutrients (e.g. amino acids, vitamins, minerals, isolated plant compounds). Wherever possible, I use whole-food, natural-source, plant-derived supplements that are organically produced.

None of these medicinal foods is a suitable substitute for good basic nutrition, but there are times when a horse can benefit from the addition of specific nutrients or foods that help the body get back on track during and after an illness or injury.

Some of these nutrients can also be of value in keeping the hard-working athlete healthy and performing well during the training and competition seasons. And the healthy senior horse often benefits from the addition of antioxidant-rich nutrients and some other dietary fine-tuning.

Herbs
One more brief comment about herbs. While grass is the basis of the horse's natural diet, a significant portion of the diet consists of other plant species, or nongrass herbage. I believe that both freshness and variety of plant nutrients (phytonutrients) in the horse's diet is essential for long-term health.

I highly recommend that horses with limited access to natural grazing (uncultivated pastures, woodland areas, etc.) be offered herbs of the type and variety commonly found in natural grazing areas and that horses have been observed to selectively eat. Fresh is best, but when fresh herbs are not available, high-quality dried herbs will suffice.